New Year Price Check (Raise, Hold, or Rework?)

Example inputs (the shop's name, address, services and current prices come from Rick's Flattop Shop's own website; the three competitor prices are from other Cedar Park barbershops' posted price lists checked Oct 24, 2026, shown without names; the volumes, costs, busy times and goals are made-up samples for this test, not the shop's real figures): - Business: Rick's Flattop Shop, 600 S Bell Blvd #6, Cedar Park, TX - Services: Regular $26 (30 min), Flattop $30 (30 min), Bald Fade $30 (30 min), Buzz $23 (10 min), Beard Trim $14 (15 min), Hot Towel Face Shave $36 (45 min) - Monthly volume (sample): Regular 220, Flattop 90, Bald Fade 120, Buzz 60, Beard Trim 70, Face Shave 15 - Direct cost per service (sample): about $3 each (supplies plus card fees) - Fixed costs (sample): $4,200 per month - Capacity (sample): 2 chairs, about 160 open hours per month - How busy (sample): Saturdays have a line by 10am; Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are slow - Last raise (sample): $2 across the board, 3 years ago - Competitor prices (posted, checked Oct 24, 2026): basic haircut $29, $40 and $50 at three other Cedar Park shops - Cost increases (sample): supplies up about 8 percent, rent up $250 a month - Protected customers (sample): seniors and kids - Goal (sample): same hours, more profit Example output (from a test run of the prompt above, trimmed): Margin per Service Service | Price | Per chair-hour | After direct cost Regular | $26 | $52 | $23 Flattop | $30 | $60 | $27 Bald Fade | $30 | $60 | $27 Buzz | $23 | $138 | $20 Beard Trim | $14 | $56 | $11 Face Shave | $36 | $48 | $33 The Regular and the Face Shave earn the least per hour. The Buzz is your quiet hero. Break-Even Check $4,200 in fixed costs over 320 chair-hours (2 chairs, 160 hours) means each chair-hour needs about $13 before you profit. At the sample volume, monthly revenue is about $14,920 and direct costs about $1,725, so you're well past break-even. This isn't a survival raise; it's a "you haven't moved in 3 years" raise. Market Position At $26, your Regular is below every posted competitor price you gave ($29, $40, $50). You're the low-price option in this sample, by a lot. Demand Signal A Saturday line by 10am says demand can carry a raise. Slow Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are a scheduling problem, not a price problem. Recommendation per Service - Regular: Raise $2, to $28. Still under every competitor you listed. - Flattop and Bald Fade: Raise $2, to $32. These are the specialty; people come for them. - Buzz: Hold at $23. It's already your best earner per hour. - Beard Trim: Raise $2, to $16. That's 14 percent, over the usual 10 percent cap, but it hasn't moved in 3 years and it's still a $16 trim. - Face Shave: Rework. At 45 minutes it earns the least per hour. Either $40 (11 percent, same 3-year reason), or a shorter 30-minute version at $32. Impact At current volume: about +$1,060 a month (Regular +$440, Flattop and Bald Fade +$420, Beard Trim +$140, Face Shave about +$60 at $40). If 5 percent of visits on raised services walk: still about +$330 a month, with about 12 chair-hours freed up for someone else. Who Will Notice Seniors and kids. Keep the Buzz at $23 so there's an unchanged entry-level cut, and hold seniors at the old Regular price through March (decide your policy for this). Next Step Paste into the Price Increase Announcement prompt: "Rick's Flattop Shop, Cedar Park. Starting Jan 1, Regular goes from $26 to $28, Flattop and Bald Fade from $30 to $32, Beard Trim from $14 to $16; the Buzz stays $23. First raise in 3 years; supply costs and rent went up. Walk-ins still welcome. (add your notice date)" Note: this example shows what the prompt produces. Rick's Flattop Shop's name, address, services and current prices are from its website; the volumes, costs, busy times, last raise and every recommendation are test samples, not the shop's real numbers or plans.